1. Technical Field
Methods and systems disclosed herein are directed to optical imaging based computer pointing, including optical imaging based pointing motion and optical imaging based button functionality.
2. Background
Computer pointing devices (hereinafter, “pointing devices”), include a motion detector and one or more buttons. Some pointing devices further include a scroll wheel. Pointing devices include mice, touch pads, and joysticks. Pointing devices allow users to interface with a computer system through a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with an application program and/or an operating system executing on the computer system. Computer systems include pointing device driver software that enables the computer system to interface with a computer pointing device in a pointing device data format.
Drawbacks of conventional pointing devices include relatively large power requirements, relatively large area requirements, component costs, and the use of mechanical buttons, which require additional power, area, and cost, and are prone to mechanical failure.
Optical imaging systems generate image information corresponding to light reflected from an object proximate thereto. Optical imaging systems are available that require less power and area, and are less expensive than pointing devices.
In the drawings, the leftmost digit(s) of a reference number identifies the drawing in which the reference number first appears.